Nation Briefs

June 11, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY

More marriages linked to polygamist fugitive

Arizona's attorney general believes polygamist leader Warren Jeffs recently returned to perform more marriages involving underage girls in his church's community along the Utah- Arizona state line. "I've heard from a number of different sources who said he's been here," Attorney General Terry Goddard told the Deseret Morning News for Saturday editions. "They said he's performed marriages, and (they) pointed out a mobile home they said was the wedding chapel." Jeffs, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, is accused of arranging marriages between underage girls and older men as leader of a Mormon splinter group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is charged with child sexual abuse in Arizona and being an accomplice to statutory rape in Utah. FLDS church members live mostly in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. NEW YORK

Nightclub worker arrested in fatal fight

A nightclub employee was arrested on an assault charge after a fight that led to the death of a 19-year-old patron, police and prosecutors said Saturday. Francisco Solivan, 24, was awaiting arraignment following several hours of questioning about the death of Antonios Fasarakis, police said. The fight occurred early Friday outside Club Soma in Queens, police said. Fasarakis was pronounced dead at a hospital. Witnesses and investigators described Solivan as a bouncer, but prosecutors said he was not licensed by the state to work as a security guard and told detectives he was the club's "fire evacuation coordinator." Police said Solivan was detained on charges of manslaughter and assault. However, Nicole Navas, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, said prosecutors would arraign him only on a charge of third-degree assault and refer the case to a grand jury for additional charges, if any. NEW YORK

Former foe endorses bid of Cuomo's son

Former Mayor Ed Koch, who twice ran against Mario Cuomo for political office, on Saturday endorsed Cuomo's son Andrew in his bid for state attorney general. Koch praised the younger Cuomo's tenure as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration. "I first met Andrew Cuomo in 1977 when his father, Mario, and I were running for mayor," Koch said in a statement. "Andrew, who was barely out of his teens at the time, has come a long way since then." Koch and Mario Cuomo battled in the 1977 Democratic primary for mayor -- won by Koch -- and the 1982 primary for governor -- won by Cuomo. Cuomo won the Democratic designation for attorney general at last month's party convention in Buffalo, but is expected to face primary challenges from a number of opponents. SHARPSBURG, MD.

White supremacists rally at Antietam

Members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups rallied Saturday at the Antietam National Battlefield, believed to be the first time a group was given permission to demonstrate at the site of the bloodiest day of the Civil War. About 30 people, some in white robes and others in the military-style clothing and swastika armbands of the National Socialist Movement of America, stood next to a farmhouse on the battlefield. Some delivered speeches attacking immigrants, blacks and other minority groups. About 200 federal, state and local officers watched to ensure peace and to act as a buffer between the Klan and about 30 counter-demonstrators. Antietam carries powerful symbolism, said Gordon Young of the Ku Klux Klan. "As the Klan, we are the ghosts of our Confederate brothers and sisters who died here," Young said. ONTARIO, CALIF.

Council wants muzzle after pastor's curse

A suburban City Council wants to limit public comment during its meetings after a pastor said he was placing a curse on the city manager and his family. "It touched a nerve for me," Councilman John Anderson said. "Not that criticism directed at (the city manager) is anything to get worked up over, but this went beyond criticism." Anderson asked City Attorney John Brown to look into how officials could stop speakers whose comments stray too far from city business, and Brown said he believes it's possible without violating the First Amendment. During this week's council meeting, Pastor John Sabbath of Liv-In Christ Christian Center in Chino said he was placing a curse on City Manager Greg Devereaux and his family. The pastor was upset that the city did not give funding to his organization following a request he made several years ago. ST. JOHNSBURY, VT.

Spy chief stumbles on speech's data

It was his work that drew some demonstrators when the national intelligence director spoke at a commencement last week, but it's his history lesson that has raised eyebrows. John Negroponte spoke Monday at commencement at the St. Johnsbury Academy, where his son was graduating, and commented during his speech that the town and the academy were named for St. John. Actually, Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen named St. Johnsbury for Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur, a French author who wrote about the American experience, said Graham S. Newell, a local historian and former St. Johnsbury Academy teacher. Negroponte's spokesman said it was an innocent mistake. "It certainly was not any slight to the school or town," said Carl Knopf. Negroponte's address did not touch on his official duties as head of the nation's spy agencies, but his presence did draw demonstrators to the coeducational boarding school in northern Vermont.